Arena Sport TV Virtualization

Sports Programming in the Most Modern IT Environment

As a demanding user, Arena Sport TV used virtualization and modern IT services to completely utilize its IT infrastructure that can be easily expanded as needs rise. Selected solution enabled this TV broadcast company to concentrate its resources on its core business – TV production, while Saga takes care of all IT issues.

User Profile

Arena Sport TV offers a package of sports channels broadcasted in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Her-zegovina, and Croatia. Channels created by this sports-media company can be found in offers by more than 40 cable and IPTV distributors (Telekom Serbia, Montenegro Telekom, BH Telekom, Telekom Croatia, and Mtel RS). All four 24x7 sports channels are broadcasted in Full HD.

The Solution

In most cases existing IT infrastructure is virtualized. But Arena Sport's case was unique because virtualization was chosen at the start, which allowed for this IT infrastructure to be based on the most modern technologies.

Saga provided Arena Sport TV with complete virtualized IT infrastructure solution that does not only satisfy its current needs, but also planned expansions during the next five years. After the customer's needs evaluation, precise hardware and software dimensioning was carried out prior to creating the virtualized system. Scaled down test system was installed in Saga's demo room, and all applied solutions were tested in that environment. Because HDTV signal reception and distribution is very demanding, a redundant infrastructure, with three independent internet links (via Telekom Serbia, Orion Telekom, and Radijus Vektor) with 50 Mb/s aggregate capacity, was implemented. If one link goes down, the system keeps working using the remaining ones.

System virtualization is based on Microsoft and VM-ware technologies, while application and desktop virtualization was carried out using thin clients. This means that Windows operating system is installed on the servers, and thin clients “pull” all the necessary information, including the desktop environment, from the infrastructure, and send back all the data that needs to be saved.

“Key elements of Saga's solution for Arena Sport TV is virtualization of server and desktop environments, as well as networking and special demands storage virtualization, which is very important for us. All our vital servers are now virtualized, which enables faster and more efficient system administration, as well as more stable operation.

Besides the system virtualization, we are exceptionally satisfied with our networking infrastructure, because we do not think of ourselves as an average user. We completely utilize our resources and avoid unexpected situations that could disable functioning of the first complete HDTV system in our region. With great quality support and remote administration that Saga provides, we can say that we have completely satisfied all our TV production demands in the best possible way.”Aleksandar Tmušić, IT manager, TV Arena sport

„Business Critical“ IT Infrastructure

Besides virtualization, for Arena Sport TV Saga im-plemented complete IT infrastructure that is pro-tected from power source fluctuation through re-dundant 60 kVA UPS devices, as well as SIP based IP telephony system. Saga also takes care of the system, which includes performance analysis and improvement, preventive and scheduled maintenance, consulting, training, 24x7 support, and on location support within 2 hours.

Virtualization brings better hardware utilization. It is scalable and easily upgraded, with centralized administration through single management console. It has a significantly lower price, less complexity, and backups are created faster. The biggest savings are connected to the infrastructure – up to 80% less power is used for server hardware and cooling, less active networking equipment is needed, as well as less data center space. In addition to all that, ROI period for a virtualized system is not longer than 3 years.

The Result

Arena Sport TV got a modern IT infrastructure for all necessary services. Saga met the user's needs by delivering a reliable, scalable solution the makes system maintenance much easier.“Besides virtualization, thanks to its system integra-tion experience, Saga was able to design and install complete IT infrastructure for Arena Sport TV. This is why our client decided to let Saga take care of his IT.”

Viktor Tisovec, Technical Consultant, Saga

Hardware Infrastructure

HP BladeSystem c7000 case with six ProLiant BL460c G6 servers was installed, each with two dual core processors and 35GB of RAM, and one ProLiant BL460c G7 server with two Quad Core CPUs and 32GB of RAM. Total raw power of physical servers is 60GHz (32 CPU cores) with 236GB of RAM, and this is split between 30 virtual servers. Two HP Storage-Works systems were installed for data storage: MSA2324FC (with 16 250GB SATA drives and 33 300GB SAS drives), and P2000 G3 with 12 2TB SAS drives. Total available storage capacity is 38TB.

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Overview

City and Country

Belgrade, Serbia

Industry

Media

Customer

Arena Sport TV has over 100 employees and broadcasts 4 sports channels in Full HD. These channels are offered by more than 40 cable, satellite, and IPTV operators in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.

Customer needs

Demanding IT infrastructure

Easy capacity expansion in the future

Lower resources and operations cost for the longer period of time

Solution

Design and installation of a virtualized IT environment and IP telephony system with maintenance services on location support within 2 hours, when needed.